Removable ridge-floor for vehicles.



A. J. 30 NAN. REMOVABLE RIDGE FLOOR FOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 26, 1912.

Patented July 1, 1913.

ANDREW J. RONAN, 0F ALBANY, NEW YORK.

' REMOVABLE RIDGE-FLOOR FOB VEHICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 1, 1913.

Application filed August 26, 1912. Serial No. 717,108.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, ANDREW J. RONAN, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the city of Albany, in the county of Albany and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Removable Ridge-Floors for Vehicles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to vehicles, and the object is to provide a body which by simple and inexpensive means may readily be converted from a side dumping body with ridged or double sloped floor into a gondola, or flat bottomed body.

A further object is to provide a removable ridged floor for such a vehicle body, and a still further object is to provide means whereby the body may be moved out from beneath this ridged floor, which is left standing on the ground.

Still another object is to provide securing means, comprising a plurality of catches for holding the side valves closed, together with single means of simple and easily operable character for operating all of them.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention by means of the preferred embodiment thereof: Figure 1 is a plan view of the vehicle body with the ridged floor partly broken away. Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation thereof with parts broken away and with the ridged floor partially withdrawn from the body. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the body, showing the locking means; and Fig. 4 is a sectional end elevation showing one automatic leg up and one down.

The vehicle body has a flat bottom 5, a front end 6, a removable back end or tail piece 7 of any ordinary or suitable nature, and hinged sides or valves 8. The latter have vertical strap irons 9, 9, secured to their outer faces at their ends and projecting above their upper edges sufiiciently to form the eyes 10. The latter receive hooked hinge lugs 11 on which the valves are free to swing. A series of keepers 12 are secured to the side edge of the bottom 5 and have portions offset from the said bottom and projecting freely lengthwise of the bottom. An offset bracketing 13 is fixed t0 the lower end of the forward strap iron 9, and to the inner side of its ofi'set portion is pivoted the lower end of a hand lever 1a. This lever is preferably bent as shown near its lower end, and a slide bar 15 is connected to it at the bend and operates in offset guides 16 formed in strap irons 17 and 9, the guides affording suflicient lateral play to allow for the slight up and down movement of the slide bar due to the angular movement of the lever. This bar 15 has vertical downward projecting locking arms 18, which are adapted to take behind or be moved out from the keepers 12 simultaneously, according to the direction of movement of the lever. Fir simplicity these structures are shown only at one side in Fig. 1. but it will be understood that they will be employed at both sides.

The removable ridged floor or false bot tom 19 rests on the flat bottom 5 and may be slid in and out through the rear end of the body, the end piece 7 first being removed. Its two walls may be made of wood covered with sheet metal or they may be constructed in any suitable manner. They are braced by tie bars 20, near the ends and if desired at intermediate points; and on the centers of these braces are fixed journal brackets 21 in which are mounted small wheels 22 that run in a central grooved track 23 set into the upper surface of the flat bottom 5. It will be understood that these wheels are set sufficiently low so as to take the weight or a considerable portion thereof in moving the false bottom in and out.

Automatic folding legs 24 are carried by the ridged floor 19, and normally lie approximately horizontally on the flat bottom of the body. When the ridged floor is pulled out or the body is moved away from it, these legs swing downward and they are of suiiicient length to reach the ground, so that the false bottom is left standing at approximately the height that it occupied when in the body. The ridged floor maybe conveniently re-introduced into the body by backing the vehicle up to it and under it, the legs folding upward, or by shoving the false bottom into the body after the latter has been brought up to the end of it. There are four of these legs, a pair near each end of the ridged bottom. They are shown hinged to the same cross bars 20 that carry the wheels 22, and at opposite side of these wheels. Sockets 25 are fixed to said cross bars, and have vertical slots 26 in their side walls receiving hinge pins 27 carried by the legs somewhat below their upper ends. It will be understood that when the legs hang down and the ridged floor is deprived of the support of the body, the said floor sinks slightly so that the upper ends of the legs are received in the sockets, whereby they-are held rigidly against collapsing.

Having described my invention what I .desire to secure by Letters Patent and claim 1s l. The combination of a vehicle body, a ridged :fioor removable through the end thereof andihaving-tie bars, leg. sockets mounted on said tie bars, and automatic legs having hinged and sliding connection withsaid sockets.

2. The combination of a vehicle body, a ridged floor removable through the end thereof, forward and rear bracesat the under side of said ridged floor, and a line of wheels mounted on said braces beneath the longitudinal center of the floor to travel on the bottom of the vehicle.

3. The combination of a vehicle body, a ridged floor removable through the end thereof, transverse bracesnniting the opposite walls of said ridged floor at points near their lower edges, a central track extending on a single line lengthwise of the car body, and wheels adapted to run tandem on said track attached to said braces.

4. The combination of a vehicle body, a

side walls,

thereof, a pair of substantially horizontal braces located respectively "forward and rearward under said ridged floor and extending transversely between its opposite vlegs pivotally connected with said braces, and a line of wheels also connected with saidbraces, adapted to run on thefloor of the vehicle body approximately intermediate the pivotal connections ofsaid legs.

5.":The combination ofavehicle body, a. ridged floor removable through the end thereof, legs-designed to support the weight ofsaid ridgedfloor, vertically slotted socket memberscarried from opposite walls of the ridged floor adapted-to receive said legs, 7

and pinsattached to: the legs engaging the slots in said :members, sa1d pins CODStltlltlIlg hingesnpon which the legs swing from untheir respective sockets.

Signed at the city of Albanyin the county of Albany and'State otfNew York this 22nd day of August A. D. 1912.

ANDREW J. RONAN.

=Witnesses ELMER J. LATUs, 2E.':-T. CHAPMAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents ieachfbyaddres'sing theCommissioner-bf Patents,'

Washington, D. G.

' der the ridged floor preparatory to entering 

